Family sue after girl, 2, served cup of blood by Starbucks barista

Amanda Vice and her family made a decision to get some Starbucks on a February day in 2016.

It wasn't until they returned home with their drinks that they realised something was amiss. She said the Frappuccino also had a odd metallic smell.

They then realised that their two-year-old daughter had been drinking from another cup with a similar stain on the inside of the rim. "[Our daughter] was licking the whipped cream where it had been sitting on top".

After ascertaining that no members of the family had been bleeding, they contacted Starbucks to inform them of what had happened.

They called the coffee shop and found out that there was an employee who had been bleeding, but had been removed from the sales floor.

They initially offered the family a week of free drinks as compensation.

Anxious about her daughter's health, Vice said she asked the Starbucks to test the bleeding employee for possible diseases such as HIV.

"The family was then left to schedule their own blood tests, causing extreme distress for the parents as they had to watch their daughter be poked with a needle and agonizingly wait for the results", a statement from Frish Law Group, a Los Angeles-based firm representing the family, said.

'This caused the family stress, nervousness, fright, anguish, grief, anxiety, worry and shock for several months while awaiting the second round of test results, ' their lawyers said.

The Independent has contacted Starbucks for comment.

"We felt sick to our stomachs, we shouldn't have to worry about going to get something to drink and there being blood in our drink where we could get sick", Amanda Vice said. "It was bad." The family says they had their blood tested for disease (though they'll have to go back in six months to get retested), and they asked the Starbucks manager to make sure the bleeding barista also got tested-something they say the manager agreed to but ultimately didn't "force" the barista to do.

The lawsuit is seeking damages for negligence and emotional distress, among other claims, according to the news release.

"We're constantly double checking everything we get, because now I just don't trust, I don't trust anybody", she said.

As for the California case, Borges, the Starbucks spokesman, did not acknowledge whether the family's claims were true but said, "We take a great deal of pride in our customers' having a great experience".